The Hill:
“ObamaRail” is fast becoming the new “ObamaCare” for many Republicans.
Conservative activists are deriding the high-speed rail proposals set out by President Obama in his State of the Union address and 2012 budget as wasteful spending that imposes new mandates on cash-strapped state governments.
“Look, you look at the studies of these things, when they get built, [they] cost way more than they think,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in a Fox News interview shortly after he rejected $2.4 billion for a railway connecting Tampa and Orlando.
The Republican governor also said states get stuck with the costs of operating the new railways once they are built. “Who is going to take responsibility for that,” he asks.
The fight over high-speed rail loudly echoes the battle over healthcare, with Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio also making big shows of rejecting federal money.
The vehemence of Republican critics has surprised even some Republicans, who say transportation issues used to find more bipartisan support.
“This is the most significant headwind we’ve had in 50 years,” said Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union.
Cardenas, a former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, was criticized after being elected ACU chairman for supporting the Florida rail project so many staunch conservatives there hated.
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The decision means the Northeast will more easily be able to compete for the $2.4 billion in high-speed rail funds that were rejected by Scott. Lawmakers from the region had long pressed the Obama administration to make the change.
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These guys really are out of touch. The money should be cut from federal spending reducing the deficit that Obama is building this year. Republicans should include it in cuts during the budget negotiation. The Democrats who are greedily trying to get their hands on the peoples money should be repudiated.
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